Pranayama

Hi Everyone,

At the Iyengar Institute, they follow a rotation of poses schedule, that goes something like this, week one Standing Poses, Week Two Forward Bend, Week Three Backward Bends, Week Four Pranayama. I've been following this more or less in my ongoing classes (tuesdays for sure and monday and wednesdays to lesser degrees), but I have to say I haven't been explicitly teaching pranayama so much on the pranayama weeks.

However, one thing that really hit me in Pune is how seriously they take pranayama and also how much people really don't practice it and all of a sudden I realized I was part of the problem. I have a regular practice, but I don't teach it regularly to my students. So today I did. In many ways, it is much harder to teach than asana, partly because you can't talk and demo at the same time, but that's the tip of the iceberg.

Here's tonights Sequence. All in Sanskirt. Another story. Long ago, Christina asked Devon how to learn the names of the poses. Devon said, when you care about the poses enough, you'll learn the names, so the beginner sequences I'll give the translations. No translations for Tuesday Night.

Supta Baddha Konasana
Supta Sukasana
Ardha Padamasana prep.
Virsasana to
Supta Virsana
Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Sirsasana with belt on elbows
Sarvangasana
mini setu banda
Ujjayi I
Ujjayi III
Ujjayi II
Violoma I
Savasana